Indiana based aluminium packaging firm Sortera Alloys receives US$10 million funding

Sortera Alloys, a Fort Wayne, Indiana-based firm that produces aluminium packaging from shredded automobiles using proprietary sorting technology and artificial intelligence (AI), has acquired $10 million in investment headed by Kirkland, Washington-based Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Sortera plans to utilise the funds to expand its operations and hire more people.

Chrysalix and the Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) have previously funded Sortera, which is based on a 10-acre site near Fort Wayne. The firm is a spin-off from the ARPA-E METALS (Modern Electro/Thermochemical Advances in Light Metal Systems) programme, and it is directed by a team with advanced materials, electronic instrumentation, and equipment development experience.

Sortera claims to generate specified aluminium scrap packages for main and secondary aluminium companies using powerful AI-powered imaging, data analytics, and sensors. It is currently building its first mass manufacturing factory, which is expected to open in 2022. For the past few months, Sortera claims to have been exporting trial truckloads of aluminium feedstock in the form of cast, sheet, and extrusions from its pilot facility.

The firm claims to have over 25 issued and pending patents and to provide a low-cost, scalable, and high-throughput solution. Sortera claims that their AI-powered sorters can improve feedstock streams while also removing impurities. The improved materials may then be utilised to create new products in a variety of industries, including automotive cast and flat-roll goods, construction, aerospace, and consumer packaging.

“The global waste industry is over $2 trillion, with nearly 90 percent of that heading to the landfill or incinerators. The volume of global waste is expected to grow by nearly 70 percent in the next few decades,” said Nalin Kumar, Ph.D., founder and president of Sortera Alloys.

“Companies are looking to create products for their customers with lower-carbon materials. At Sortera, we are enabling the domestic production of novel feedstock materials from existing automotive streams [and] at the same time boosting the strength of the circular economy and creating new jobs,” added Nalin Kumar.

“Sortera is using AI and engineering expertise to uniquely deliver high throughput with high purity in its sorting processes while also keeping costs down. Scrap metal is an excellent place for market entry—aluminum is a $10 billion market alone, and the production of virgin material has huge emission factors. The auto industry, in particular, should be very excited about Sortera's ability to deliver high-purity recycled materials without the cost and negative impact of producing virgin metal feedstocks,” said Carmichael Roberts of Breakthrough Energy Ventures.